Making a "to do" list

Making a "to do" list
 

I'm a lists person. I know this isn't an anonymous support group. I just needed to get that out there so that there's no doubt as to this short-coming of mine. :)

Anyway - I want to start substituting Spanish words in my lists where I can to help myself become more at ease with the language. So today I'm making a to-do list for after work (I'm a teacher) this afternoon.

If I'm writing a verb on my to-do list, do I use the imperative conjunction - second person singular? For example, would I write: "compra almuerzo para escuela (inclusive manzanas)" ??

What you write is acceptable. Everyone has their own style. I would use the infinitive: comprar instead of compra because it is a to do list.

OH!! That makes a LOT of sense. "TO do". :) What would you call a "to do" list in Spanish?

One way to say it is una lista de hay que haceres

I have to admit that that's WAY too many words for me ... I can't see replacing "to do list" with "una lista de hay que haceres". Hmmmm..... what about "lista a hacer"?

lista de cosas por hacer
lista de quehaceres

Both work.

Hi,

Although, "una lista de hay que hacer" to me sounds literally:

a list of there is must have's :-)

"una lista del quehacer" or "una lista del que hacer", I think both would be acceptable in spanish. :-)


Hernan.

Hernan - when someone in Spain makes a list of things to do, what do they call it? You're saying that certain things sound acceptable or sound "right". But is there a name for it?

Yes, you can do a list to do, or a list for do even, then in my Spanish I would use Voy hacer una lista de quehaceres, Rusty's answer are acceptable, then if you can use other kind of meaning in your own list, then you would use the list as a thing or diary to do.

Okay - thanks all. I didn't mean to take the conversation in a completely different direction. :) I was really just getting at which verb tense to use in my list. I've now added several items to the list (in Spanish) and think that this approach will be beneficial to my learning. Gracias!

Why not just call it hacer (to do)? You don't write a long names for such list in English anyway, like a list of things to do, but simply to do.

Ah HAH! That's it! Thanks, Dane - that was what I was looking for! :)

I do this for all of my school work. I have a large dry/erase board right next to my desk and I write all of my objectives for the week in Spanish. I write everything in the imperative, mostly because I need to yell at myself to remember things that need to be done and it just looks better that way.

In post #6 I listed two ways to say a to-do list. If you want to shorten it so it's easier to remember, use Por Hacer or Quehaceres. There is a slight difference between these two.
Hacer, on its own, means do, not to do. We English speakers like to throw the preposition in, but it doesn't mean that to a Spanish speaker. Just like the other infinitives in your list that stand for an imperative, as Poli suggested, there is no automatic, built-in 'to' in hacer. With the preposition por it means to do. The nuance is 'about to do'.
One thing I didn't mention in post #6 is that por can be exchanged with que:
lista de cosas que hacer
With the conjunction que, the nuance shifts from 'about to do' to 'have to do'.

sooo does that mean
tengo que irme - i have to go
tengo por irme - i'm about to go
??

tengo que irme = I have to leave
estoy por irme = I'm about to leave

oOOoh - yes, I was looking for shorter ... and these things gave me good ideas. I like BOTH "que hacer" and "por hacer". Although I'll probably use "que hacer". Thanks!!

I'm sure that this examples can help you.

I'm doing my bed, Estoy haciendo mi cama.

I'm cooking my prefer meet full Mexican salsa.

I'm running in the street doing exercise.

I'm reading my favorite book.

I hope my examples can be of great useful for you.

I thought the infinitives was usually (note: not always) translated to to + infinitive in English, although I know it may not sound like that to the Spanish speaker. Like in the following examples: quiero salir (I want to leave) and necesito comprar una casa nueva (I need to buy a new house). Is it because they are not the main-verbs, or something like that?

Not every instance is the same, but the examples you cited have an introductory verb (want, need). There is no need for a preposition in those cases. But, you'll find that most infinitives need some kind of preceding preposition or conjunction. This is why many English speakers learning Spanish fail to include the little, but quite necessary, a, para and por prepositions.

Necesito aprender a hablar = I need to learn to speak
Aprendieron a manejar = They learned how to drive
Estamos para aprender = We are here to learn
Estoy por aprender = I'm about to learn